The speedboat carrying tourists from the airport to Club Med Kanifinolhu resort caught fire just after it left the airport. There had been 24 people on-board but 16 had been hospitalized for various burn injuries. The passengers had suffered burn injuries varying from 20-50 percent, hospital had said earlier. Some of the videos captured by eyewitnesses show that the fire had broken out at the back of the speedboat near the engines. As soon as the engine caught fire, another boat had pulled up and started rescuing passengers. As the flames spread, no one appeared to have tried to put out the fire. According to the videos, it had taken awhile for the flames to engulf the vessel. An airport employee had told Haveeru that the flames had been so small at first that it could have been "put out by hand." The passengers had begun calling out for help and nearby vessels had tried to come to their aid, employee said. "The fire could've been easily put out with a fire extinguisher. But maybe in panic nobody had tried to do so," employee said. According to the employee, the fire department arrived at the scene nearly an hour after the incident. The vessel was engulfed in flames by then, employee had said.